FinTech startup Lightyear has raised 拢6.2 million in fresh funding alongside the launch of its app as the company starts to onboard UK customers from its waiting list.聽
Lightyear says it combines multi-currency accounts with unlimited access to global markets so customers can invest freely without hidden fees.
Founded by early Wise alumni Martin Sokk and Mihkel Aamer, it pledges to bring a global mindset into the European investment space. Traditionally, if European investors wanted access to international markets they have been hit with a range of various fees such as transaction and custody fees, but most notably foreign exchange fees.聽
After removing the friction of sending money abroad during their time at Wise, the pair are looking to do the same with investing.聽
With unlimited access to more than 1,000 global stocks, Lightyear鈥檚 first iteration of the app – its minimum viable product – will start onboarding customers from the waitlist starting today.
Earlier this summer, Lightyear announced a 拢1m pre-seed round from a cohort of FinTech industry stalwarts, led by Taavet Hinrikus of Wise and Sten Tamkivi of Teleport and Jaan Tallinn of Skype.聽
The round also welcomed Ott Kaukver, the CTO at checkout.com, Wander Rutgers, the former president of Robinhood UK and Kaarel Kotkas, the founder of Veriff.
The latest funding is led by Mosaic Ventures alongside existing investors Taavet+Sten – the recently formed investment partnership of Taavet Hinrikus and Sten Tamkivi – and Metaplanet.聽
New angel investors coming in this time include early Monzo backer Eileen Burbidge, Harsh Sinha, the CTO at Wise and Taavi Tamkivi, the CEO at Salv.聽
鈥�10 months ago Lightyear was just an idea, so we鈥檙e really excited to have raised a total of $10 million, hired a world-class team and to be launching the first iteration of our app,鈥� said CEO Sokk.聽
鈥淭here are more people in Europe investing now than ever before, but there鈥檚 still a very long way to go. Our goal is to give all of Europe access to the world鈥檚 markets without hidden fees and to make investing cognitively easy.聽
鈥淲e鈥檙e excited to have such a strong group of investors that share this vision with us.鈥�
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Simon Levene, Mosaic co-founder and partner, said: 鈥淐ompared to mature markets such as the US, retail investment across Europe is still at the beginning of its growth journey.聽
鈥淭he customer experience hasn鈥檛 really been cracked, and the majority of current offerings serve just their local country. Lightyear鈥檚 mission is to offer access to global markets for pan-European investors, providing all the necessary data and education they need – with a simple, transparent business model that removes all the hidden and confusing fee structures.聽
鈥淲e鈥檙e delighted to support co-founders Martin Sokk and Mihkel Aamer, two veteran execs from TransferWise, at the start of their journey to empower retail investors – experienced and new alike – across the continent.鈥�
Burbidge added: 鈥淲hen it comes to investing in an early-stage business, it鈥檚 crucial that the team is best in class, that I believe in the sector, and the product has global appeal.聽
鈥淲e鈥檝e seen more and more people interested in retail investing over the past year and a half, which, combined with this highly motivated, extremely聽 talented and high integrity team, makes for something special.聽
鈥淚鈥檓 excited by Lightyear鈥檚 commitment to transparency and building a platform that鈥檚 approachable and inclusive, where everyone has the best access, tools and confidence to invest.鈥�